3 Common Problems With Digital Marketing (& How To Fix)
Digital Marketing doesn’t work for my business. Period. Is this an opinion you’ve been holding? If it is, you’re not alone.
Recently, I’ve been auditing business’ Social Media presences and I’m seeing the same problems pop up time and time again.
They’re creating engaging content, they’re getting views and comments but people aren’t signing up for their opt-ins and they aren’t getting sales.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing something wrong, but usually that something in your strategy needs tweaking. There’s a stoppage in the buying process, your customers are going so far – and then stopping.
I’ve seen many focus on brand awareness in their digital marketing but without a set process to guide their audience to purchase.
It’s great to grow your audience, but unfortunately 1,000 likes doesn’t mean £1,000.
In this article, I’m going to discuss 3 common complaints, and how you can fix them and improve your results.
“I’m getting engagement, but I never have anybody buying from me!”
First thing to check is, are you leading your audience on a journey? Social Media isn’t just about putting out content & the odd sales post, it is so much more than that. Your customers must be taken on a journey from becoming a passive audience member to becoming a buyer.
After consuming the content you produce, what is the next logical step for them?
Perhaps signing up for a lead magnet that is in relation to the courses or services you provide is the next step.
Try:
- Creating an enticing lead magnet with a follow up email campaign
- Starting conversations on Social Media with active members of your online community
- Check for buying signals, and act on them.
Note: If you’re jumping in straight away with the offer of a strategy call, it can sometimes be too hot too soon. Allow your audience to become more familiar of you and your business before going in for direct contact.
“Nobody signs up for my lead magnet”
First up, how are you getting people to sign up to your lead magnet?
I’m going to assume that you’re getting visitors to the landing page, but they are not signing up.
Usually, the problem is the landing page for the lead magnet. Badly optimised or doesn’t display the benefit to the end user enough.
Ask yourself these questions:
-What is the purpose of my landing page?
-Is what I’m offering clear?
-Is it clear what action I want the customer to take?
If you notice that in some areas you are not particularly clear, create a new variation of your landing page and test your theory. If your conversion increases, you know you’ve found your problem.
Try:
- Adding a video onto your landing page
- Testing different headlines
- Take inspiration from lead-magnet landing pages similar to yours – design wise and wording.
- Addressing customers problems in the copy
- Adding a call-to-action above the fold
Landing pages are never perfect first time, so don’t be discouraged. They are an ongoing testing process.
I will be going more into landing page AB testing an optimisation more in another article.
“I’ve been creating content on Social Media for X but I’m just not getting anywhere, no sales or much engagement”
This one can be for a multitude of reasons – however for this article I’m going to assume you have researched your market and know that your product/services are in demand.
The usual culprits for this issue are:
#1 You’re in the wrong place at the wrong time
#2 Your content isn’t relating to your audience very well
#3 Incorrectly targeting adverts
Issue #1 can be found and solved by testing out other platforms and making yourself more visible.
Try:
- Sharing your posts into groups to increase visibility
- Ask for feedback from members of your audience/previous customers. Does it resonate with them? Do they want to consume it?
- Try using other platforms.
Issue #2 is something that most of us will encounter at some point. At times, a type of content will not resonate with your audience and the post will die a painful online death. Eep. If you find this happening, you need to change what kind of content to produce. No point flogging a dead horse.
Try:
- Survey your customers/audience and ask what they’d like to see from you.
- See what others in your niche are doing and take inspiration.
Issue #3 is relevant if you’re running adverts or sharing your posts in various places. If you are not getting any traction when putting your posts in front of an audience, the issue tends to be that the wrong audience is seeing your post.
If you’re sure you’ve found your target audience online, perhaps they are not the market for your product.
Try:
- Changing the targeting on your adverts.
- Find new places to share your content – niche groups where your audience hangs out.
- Use broad targeting in your adverts until you start to get data, then double down on what’s working.
The most common problems are usually the simplest to rectify. Think about the 4P’s of marketing.
Product, Price, Placement, Promotion. If all of these are going smoothly you have a winning marketing campaign. However, just one out of place can spell a recipe for disaster (and money down the drain!).
A quick and basic exercise I like to do with new clients is as below:
Product
What problem does your product/service solve?
What are your customers “pain points”?
What is your USP?
Place
Where will your customers look for your product? (Social Media Platforms, Websites, Search Engines)
Where are your competitors online? Are there any common online platforms?
Price
What is the value of the product to the consumer?
Are you similarly priced to your competitors or similar products?
Does your price match your target audience? Can they afford it?
How would a small increase or decrease in price reflect the quality of the product?
Promotion
Where can you get your message out online?
Is there a best time to post?
How are your competitors promoting their products and services online?
What types of content are performing best in your industry?
If you’re finding that digital marketing doesn’t work for your business, chances are there are a couple of tweaks you need to make to create a successful strategy. Sometimes a little guidance is all that’s needed. Don’t be afraid to test things and try out something new online, this is often where the best results come from